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Lenovo has become the only top-five PC maker not to suffer from the so-called ‘post-PC’ slump, posting record profits for its last financial year.

The PC slowdown might be hitting many high-tech companies hard, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at Lenovo: the company has just posted record profits on the back of massively increased sales.

Founded in 1984, Chinese Lenovo hit the big time when it acquired IBM’s personal computer business in 2005 – giving it the right to produce laptops under the well-regarded ThinkPad brand. While not all of its decisions have gone quite as well – it famously sold off its smartphone and tablet division in 2008 for $100 million, only to change its mind and buy it back a year later for $200 million – the company has seen steady growth in the mobile computing arena.

Steady, that is, until its most recent quarterly earnings report. Despite its rivals complaining of flagging profits, slowing sales and the looming spectre of the so-called “post-PC” era – in which buyers stop picking up desktops and laptops in favour of tablets and smartphones – the company has had a bumper quarter. Figures released by the company late last night show a 90 per cent gain in profits year-on-year from $66.8 million this time last year to $126.9 million in the last quarter.

The whopping growth comes as the global PC market continues to shrink, the hoped-for sales boost from the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system having never materialised. Some of that growth, naturally, comes from Lenovo’s smartphone and tablet arm – but the company has sustained previous levels of desktop and laptop sales, increasing its market share to the cost of its competitors. In doing so, it has become the only one of the top five PC makers not to see its shipments slide.

The good performance its final quarter has led Lenovo to a record annual income of $801 million based on $34 billion in sales – suggesting that Lenovo, unlike its competitors, isn’t feeling the pinch of the market slowdown. That, however, would appear to be primarily thanks to its tablet and smartphone arm: desktop PC shipments held steady during the quarter, while its laptop division saw sales decrease two per cent year-on-year. Smartphone shipments, by contrast, grew 206 per cent in the fourth quarter.

That isn’t to say that Lenovo is becoming a smartphone company, of course: laptops still accounted for 53 per cent of the company’s overall sales for the quarter, despite the slip in shipments. Lenovo’s position as one of the very few companies in the PC market to show growth, however, does show a couple of things very clearly: PC makers without “post-PC” strategies are going to struggle in the coming years, and Lenovo’s $200 million buy-back of its hastily-sold tablet and mobile division may have been a sound investment after all.

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Sailing around the globe solo is one of the most grueling adventures on the planet. But it also offers a moving experience, unique insight into nature, and survival skills which stay with the sailor for the rest of their lives. What have these brave seafarers learned from their time on the waves?

In 2010, Australian sailor Jessica Watson became the youngest person to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe, at just 16-years-old. “Staying positive, not letting myself think negatively or sad was a huge asset. Very often it was only when I was upset about something else, that I would feel homesick. And you’d also be surprised what you get used to, after the first week being alone,” she told CNN.

“I think it was actually the years of work and the mental psyching myself up before the voyage that made me realize more about myself, than the voyage itself. I’d spent so long imagining myself on the voyage and questioning whether I’d really be able to do it, so by the time I was ready to leave I felt confident that I’d be able to. Then it was just a matter of getting on with it,” Watson added.

Briton Robin Knox-Johnston made history in 1969 as the first person to sail solo, nonstop around the world. “In my case, because I was sailing a boat, which requires full concentration, I never really had time to feel lonely for more than a few minutes as there was always something to do,” he told CNN.

In 2007 Knox-Johnston again smashed the record books, this time as the oldest person to circumnavigate the globe, at 68-years-old. Knighted in 1995, Knox-Johnston has also been named UK Yachtsman of the Year three times. “I doubt I had been alone for 24 hours before I set out, but once I was sailing, loneliness was not something that I dwelt upon,” he said.

Former schoolteacher Dee Caffari is the first woman to sail single-handedly nonstop around the world in both directions — westward in 2006 and eastward in 2009. “It is only when I had the opportunity to reflect or I spoke to someone at home that I felt those pangs of isolation. But with a great shore team and so many supporters behind me, I really didn’t feel that I was doing it on my own,” Caffari told CNN.

“I was very affected by news of other competitors capsizing or being seriously injured and I suppose hearing about other people having life or death experiences, when they were in exactly the same environment as me, did increase my anxiety. I love what I do and I think you have to focus on the positives in life, otherwise I don’t think you would ever leave the house,” she said.

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Editor’s note: MainSail is CNN’s monthly sailing show, exploring the sport of sailing, luxury travel and the latest in design and technology.

(CNN) — Coming face-to-face with 25-meter waves, spending months on end without human contact, and shrinking your world to the confines of a 10-meter boat.

Who are the superhumans who single-handedly sail around the world?

In many cases they are ordinary people forced to survive in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Here, three of those record-breaking sailors reveal what they learned from their time on the waves — from coping with loneliness to confronting their own mortality and reaching deep within for inspiration to continue their remarkable journey.

Jessica Watson

At just 16-years-old, Australian schoolgirl Jessica Watson became the youngest person to single-handedly sail nonstop around the world.

She completed the epic seven month journey in 2010, in a 10-meter yacht called Ella’s Pink Spirit.

In 2011, Watson was named Young Australian of the Year and has since written a book on her experience called True Spirit.

CNN: How did you cope with loneliness?

Jessica Watson: From the moment I sailed out of Sydney I missed everyone back home. I wouldn’t just miss family and friends, but also simple things like going for a walk along the beach. But despite missing these things badly, I can honestly say I never felt lonely. Lonely is a Friday night on land when no one has asked you out! It’s somehow different when you’ve chosen to put yourself out there alone.

CNN: What did you discover about yourself?

JW: I learned that you really can achieve anything if you set your mind to it. Before dreaming of sailing around the world I was a scared, shy kid, but it was something I wanted to do enough that I overcame those fears. And these days, on dry land, I’m the biggest wuss again!

CNN: Did it affect your idea of mortality?

JW: I can’t say that voyage affected my idea of mortality. Although it was during one of the most terrifying moments out at sea that I realized how important the people close to me are — not so much being with them, but not wanting to put them through so much hardship.

CNN: What inspired you?

JW: It was the stories of other people who sailed around the world that first put the idea in my head. But it wasn’t so much the adrenalin pumping, adventurous side that appealed to me. As boring as it sounds, it was thinking about how the risks of such a voyage might be minimized and wondering if I really could do it, that had me hooked. Another big part of my motivation was wanting to make people question their perceptions of what a young person or girl is capable of.

Read: Return to waves for Richard Branson’s retro speedboat

CNN: How do you view nature?

JW: When you sit on a boat for 210 days straight with only the very rare glimpse of land, you start to take a lot of notice of nature. One experience I had with a dolphin was a standout. It was during the first storm of the trip, and throughout the worst hours a dolphin swam along next to Pink Lady — a pretty incredible, reassuring presence.

Robin Knox-Johnston

In 1969, Knox-Johnston became the first person to single-handedly sail nonstop around the world.

The yachting legend smashed the record books again in 2006, when at the age of 67 he became the oldest person to circumnavigate the globe solo.

Knighted in 1995, the 74-year-old Londoner is founder of the annual Clipper Round the World Yacht Race for amateur sailors.

Read: The people who quit their jobs to sail in Clipper Race

CNN: Did it affect your idea of mortality?

Robin Knox-Johnston: It certainly did. When you see a 25-meter wave stretching from horizon to horizon, with the top leaning forward and breaking as it rushes towards your boat, you don’t have much time to think. You have to react fast or be swept away. It is afterward, when the wave has swamped over the boat and you emerge wet, shaken and deafened by the roar, that you begin to think that you could have been killed.

CNN: How did you cope with loneliness?

RKJ: I think people can either cope with loneliness or they can’t. In my case, because I was sailing a boat which requires full concentration, I never really had time to feel lonely for more than a few minutes as there was always something to do. When I got back 312 days after starting, I really was totally happy with my own company and had to adjust to being with people again.

CNN: What inspired you?

RKJ: A combination of boredom — I was first officer on a passenger ship and beginning to wonder if I really wanted to do that for the rest of my life — and the fact that Francis Chichester had just sailed around the world with one stop, thus leaving the last thing to be done: to go around alone and without a stop. Once I had thought of the idea it would not let me go.

CNN: How do you view nature?

RKJ: From watching the sun glittering on the sea in the Trades to working through huge icebergs, seeing the birds moving with the seasons; the miracle of spring; the puzzlement as to what caused the Big Bang and what was there before. I view it all with curiosity, respect and awe.

Dee Caffari

In 2009, the former British schoolteacher Dee Caffari became the first woman to sail solo and nonstop around the world — in both east and west directions.

That same year, Caffari and an all-female crew smashed the mono-hull speed record around Britain and Ireland, completing the voyage in six days.

The 40-year-old Briton is also the only woman to have circumnavigated the globe three times.

CNN: How did you cope with loneliness?

Dee Caffari: Prior to my first solo voyage I had never spent any length of time on my own — in fact I had never even lived alone, so it was quite a culture shock for me being at sea with just myself for company for six months. I think being busy and preoccupied with an activity is probably quite a good antidote to loneliness and when you sail solo there is always something to be done on-board. The one thing I really did miss was non-verbal communication. Until it is taken away, you don’t quite realize how much you pick up on from facial expressions and just being present.

CNN: What did you discover about yourself?

DC: I realized that however strong you think you are, when faced with adverse conditions you can always dig that little bit deeper and surprise yourself. On my first voyage I wasted emotional energy at times by getting frustrated and upset, mainly if I was tired or hungry. I learned that looking after myself physically had a huge impact on my emotional stability and once you know what the triggers are, you can learn to manage yourself better.

Read: Life of daredevil sailing photographer

CNN: What inspired you?

DC:My father was a strong influence on me and his encouragement to get on and do things instead of talking about them is a bit of a mantra for me in life. Of course, sailing legends such as Sir Peter Blake and Sir Chay Blyth have also been key figures that have inspired me in my career. When I am out on the water, I find that the elements themselves are inspirational.

CNN: How do you view nature?

DC: I am privileged to have sailed in some of the most remote environments on the planet and I have seen nature at its rawest and most hostile. I have also seen the most beautiful things like stunning sunsets, amazing wildlife, and even humans look pretty good after being at sea for six months!

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/16/travel/wisdom-from-the-sea/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/lJCr6m76xBA/main-sail-react-fast-or-be-swept-away

(Credit:

Australian painted lady feeding image by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos, GFDL v1.2)

Thanks to the magic of dissection, we have a pretty good idea of the changes that occur when a caterpillar spins its chrysalis and enters its metamorphosis — the developmental stage that sees it move from the juvenile larval stage to the gorgeous adult life of a butterfly.

However, as you might have already guessed, dissection destroys the specimen, meaning that researchers are unable to follow the full development of a creature. We do know that the caterpillar will use enzymes to break down some of its proteins to reform; Scientific American called this a cocoon full of “caterpillar soup.” However, scientists have performed research revealing that while some breakdown occurs, the idea of caterpillar soup is mostly wrong (but still gross).

Using micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT scanning, which uses X-ray imaging to re-create 3D cross-sections of the scanned object, Tristan Rowe and Russell Garwood from the U.K’s University of Manchester and Thomas Simonsen from London’s Natural History Museum have discovered exactly what happens to a painted lady butterfly inside the chrysalis.

Scans of the chrysalis at different stages of development.

(Credit:
Thomas J Simonsen, Russell J Garwood,Tristan Lowe)

Although a lot of rearranging occurs, some things remain. The insect’s guts change shape, shrinking down into the butterfly’s smaller body, but never disappear entirely. Meanwhile, the tracheal system gets bigger and reattaches itself to a different set of openings. However, a number of tissues, such as the muscles and central nervous system, are invisible to the scan and could not be studied. Although ionizing radiation would give these tissues the necessary contrast, it destroys tissue in the process and is not a good solution.

Overall, the technique will not revolutionize what we know about insect metamorphosis in any significant way, but it does make for a fascinating glimpse into something usually hidden from human eyes.

The full research paper, “Metamorphosis revealed: time-lapse three-dimensional imaging inside a living chrysalis,” can be read for free in the Journal of the Royal Society.

(Source: Crave Australia via National Geographic)

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Will the Nexus 4 be little more than a hill of jelly beans compared to the next Nexus?

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

The Android faithful are getting giddy over what Google goodies could be revealed at next week’s Google I/O developers’ conference, and the de-shelving of the Nexus 4 at retailers has some wondering if a new pure Android phone is about to replace it.

Two U.K. retailers, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U, have discontinued sales of the
Nexus 4 this week, and the number of U.S. retailers still offering the phone online also seems to be shrinking. Check Google’s official retail locator for the latest pure Google phone and the only outlets that pop up in most places (I checked New York, San Francisco, and Denver) are all T-Mobile stores.

Yet, when I checked Best Buy’s Web site and clicked on the only Nexus 4 on offer (the T-Mobile version), I got a mysterious “Page Not Found” error. It certainly appears someone thinks the Nexus 4 has run its course and is looking to make room for something new.

The mind automatically jumps to fancy-free dreams of a Nexus 5, Motorola “X Phone,” or perhaps the mighty LG “Megalodon” rumored to be the next Nexus. Few of the rumors surrounding such mythic devices actually line up with a reveal at Google I/O. The smart money for next week’s event in terms of smartphone releases is on something far more modest, like a 4G version of the Nexus 4.

Nonetheless, I’ll spend part of this weekend slumbering with visions of terrifying Megalodons and cute little Androids dancing in my head.

What do you expect to see at I/O? Take our poll here and let us know in the comments what you want in a new Nexus.

(Hat tilt to Android Headlines for the U.K retailer tip.)

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A lot of users have soured on iTunes, but some people — including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak — think it would benefit Apple to bring it to Android.

(Credit:
CNET UK)

Back in March I read a story by The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg called “How Apple Gets All the Good Apps.” It was mostly about why Apple’s rivals — Google, Microsoft, and others — have brought their apps to the iOS platform while Apple didn’t reciprocate the gesture.

Mossberg described the situation as obviously lopsided in Apple’s favor and that it “stemmed from the different business models of the big rivals.” Apple, after all, makes the “vast majority” of its money through hardware sales while Google, Microsoft and Amazon, he said, are primarily software and services companies, even if those companies also make some hardware products. Apple, with over 500 million iOS devices sold, was too big for rivals to ignore.

All that’s very true. However, nothing was mentioned about whether, in the long run, it might be a bad idea for Apple to keep some of its key apps isolated on its own platform as
Android devices continue to grow in popularity.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

Shrinking competitive advantage
I don’t how many iOS devices Mossberg owns, but I’ve acquired a lot of them over the years. At the same time, I have my share of Android-based devices and I know plenty of people who live in a mixed-device household, especially with all the cheap
Kindle, Nexus, and Nook
tablets to choose from.

The conventional wisdom is that Apple has the best selection of apps, and the majority of exclusive apps. But that list of iOS-only killer apps has shrunk in recent years and months. Consider Instagram’s eventual transition to Android, which was so wildly popular that it was a factor in Facebook’s billion-dollar acquisition of the photo-centric social network just a few days later.

Indeed, as Time’s Harry McCracken reported recently, Android and iOS are very evenly matched across the board: each platform boasts around 800,000 apps. And the Android world still remains comparatively fragmented — device compatibility isn’t a given. Of course, the iOS world isn’t as monolithic as it once was — certain new apps won’t run on older devices.

But while Android may have a larger overall population of users, iOS users are the ones who tend to pay for their apps. That’s why app developers still tend to prioritize iPhone and iPad first — it’s where the money is.

The bottom line is that many consumers are sitting on iOS app collections worth hundreds — and in some cases, thousands — of dollars, creates an incentive for folks to stick with Apple devices. It’s a competitive advantage — a fairly lopsided one, according to Mossberg, so why should Apple bother changing things? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Well, for starters, I’d argue that it’s not as big a competitive advantage as it once was. It hasn’t stopped millions of people from buying cheaper Android smartphones. Apparently, the Google Play store is good enough. Google has its own exclusives, or at least it has some apps that offer more features on Android than on iOS (Google Maps, Google Now, Google Voice).

Apple-only becoming less appealing
On a personal level, while my day-to-day smartphone remains an iPhone (the 4S), I’m finding myself using Apple’s apps less and less (by that I mean the ones Apple makes, not third-party developers’ apps). I’ve almost completely stopped using iTunes, having shifted over to music subscription services (Spotify, Rdio). I don’t buy books from iBooks because I know I won’t be able to view them on any other devices. And I stopped using iCloud because I kept exceeding my storage limit and Apple kept asking me for more money (I’ve gone back to manually backing up my iDevices).

Setting aside a discussion of the deficiencies of iTunes and iCloud, my larger point is that I’m being drawn away from Apple apps because I don’t want to feel cornered by them. There’s a bit of complicated psychology at work here, but sometimes offering up a little freedom can create a tighter bond.

I’m not alone. I think that in future, as we live in more mixed device households, consumers are going to demand more freedom to move easily from one platform to another. And I’m not just talking about portable devices. There are game consoles, as well as “smart” TVs and set-top boxes like Roku. Hardware may be where Apple makes the bulk of its profit, but in the long run it behooves the company to have people use its software (and shop in its e-stores), no matter what device they’re on.

Google develops apps on iOS, controlled by its archrival, Apple

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

The irony is that Apple’s biggest competitors have already done this: Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Samsung all make apps for iOS. True, Microsoft’s crown jewel, Office, remains a no-show, despite persistent rumors. But Google has embraced iOS– the apps for Maps, search, and Gmail keep getting better and better. The company understands that even if it loses the battle — because the user bought a non-Android product — it’s winning the war if that same consumer ends up using that Apple hardware to access Google’s wide range of cloud-based services. They’re still a Google user, seeing ads from Google clients.

The same goes for Amazon. That company’s books, music, and video apps are on iPad and iPhone, making it all too easy to bypass iBooks and iTunes. Indeed, if Apple’s not careful, more folks will move to Amazon’s or Google’s platform-agnostic suite of apps as their “hub” and feel less tied to Apple’s — and Apple in general.

Apple’s killer apps… for Android
With that in mind, here are the apps I think Apple should bring over Android devices. I’ve mentioned them already, but making them bullet points will help highlight them further.

• iBooks: The iBookstore has progressively improved, but it just seems silly to restrict yourself to reading your e-books on Apple devices when you don’t have to. The Kindle, Nook, Google Books, and Kobo apps are available on multiple platforms, including iOS. Maybe Apple doesn’t care that much about the e-book business, but I think it would help bring more users into the fold if it was platform agnostic — or as Amazon likes to call it, “Buy Once, Enjoy Everywhere.”
• iTunes: To expand its audience for iPhones and iPods, Apple was willing to bring iTunes Windows machines. So why not Android devices, particularly as Amazon continues to make its aggressive push into both music and movie downloads, as well as streaming video? Heck, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is for it, saying in an interview last year on Slashdot that, “I love Apple products and iTunes and wish it were on my Android products too.” (Note: with a third party app, you can already sync your iTunes library with an Android device).
• iCloud: In theory, iCloud is a great concept. But due to its limitations, users are still gravitating to the Dropboxes of the world, which allow for cloud access for photos, documents, and contacts, from many devices. Hopefully, we’ll see a new, improved iCloud as part of iOS 7 later this year. But in the long run if Apple expects people to pay what it’s asking them to pay for iCloud, it should be a much more flexible service that includes support for other platforms.

Yeah, I know the odds of Apple ending its app isolation are a long shot. And yeah, I know Apple has a lot of disdain for the inelegant, fragmented world of Android.

But remember: the iPod didn’t really take off until Apple created iTunes on Windows. Yes, that was a different era — Apple the underdog, Microsoft at the height of its powers. But it worked out brilliantly for Apple.

This time, Apple would be working from a position of strength. Why not roll the dice on Android?

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U.S. researchers are hopeful that human trials on a revolutionary memory implant could get underway in the next two years. Scientists hope that the implant could help people restore the memories of people who have had a stroke or suffered localized brain injury.

The researchers are focusing on the hippocampus — the place in the brain where short-term memories are made into long-term memories. In a separate study, Stanford University researchers recently created an 3-D animation (pictured) that renders the hippocampus region of a mouse brain transparent.

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(CNN) — William Gibson’s popular science fiction tale “Johnny Mnemonic” foresaw sensitive information being carried by microchips in the brain by 2021. A team of American neuroscientists could be making this fantasy world a reality.

Their motivation is different but the outcome would be somewhat similar. Hailed as one of 2013′s top ten technological breakthroughs by MIT, the work by the University of Southern California, North Carolina’s Wake Forest University and other partners has actually spanned a decade.

But the U.S.-wide team now thinks that it will see a memory device being implanted in a small number of human volunteers within two years and available to patients in five to 10 years. They can’t quite contain their excitement.

“I never thought I’d see this in my lifetime,” said Ted Berger, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “I might not benefit from it myself but my kids will.”

Read: Gamma-ray burst shocks scientists

Rob Hampson, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University, agrees. “We keep pushing forward, every time I put an estimate on it, it gets shorter and shorter.”

The scientists — who bring varied skills to the table, including mathematical modeling and psychiatry — believe they have cracked how long-term memories are made, stored and retrieved and how to replicate this process in brains that are damaged, particularly by stroke or localized injury.

Berger said they record a memory being made, in an undamaged area of the brain, then use that data to predict what a damaged area “downstream” should be doing. Electrodes are then used to stimulate the damaged area to replicate the action of the undamaged cells.

They concentrate on the hippocampus — part of the cerebral cortex which sits deep in the brain — where short-term memories become long-term ones. Berger has looked at how electrical signals travel through neurons there to form those long-term memories and has used his expertise in mathematical modeling to mimic these movements using electronics.

Hampson, whose university has done much of the animal studies, adds: “We support and reinforce the signal in the hippocampus but we are moving forward with the idea that if you can study enough of the inputs and outputs to replace the function of the hippocampus, you can bypass the hippocampus.”

The team’s experiments on rats and monkeys have shown that certain brain functions can be replaced with signals via electrodes. You would think that the work of then creating an implant for people and getting such a thing approved would be a Herculean task, but think again.

Read: What’s the matter with antimatter?

For 15 years, people have been having brain implants to provide deep brain stimulation to treat epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease — a reported 80,000 people have now had such devices placed in their brains. So many of the hurdles have already been overcome — particularly the “yuck factor” and the fear factor.

“It’s now commonly accepted that humans will have electrodes put in them — it’s done for epilepsy, deep brain stimulation, (that has made it) easier for investigative research, it’s much more acceptable now than five to 10 years ago,” Hampson says.

Much of the work that remains now is in shrinking down the electronics.

“Right now it’s not a device, it’s a fair amount of equipment,”Hampson says. “We’re probably looking at devices in the five to 10 year range for human patients.”

The ultimate goal in memory research would be to treat Alzheimer’s Disease but unlike in stroke or localized brain injury, Alzheimer’s tends to affect many parts of the brain, especially in its later stages, making these implants a less likely option any time soon.

Read: Lab-grown meat gives food for thought

Berger foresees a future, however, where drugs and implants could be used together to treat early dementia. Drugs could be used to enhance the action of cells that surround the most damaged areas, and the team’s memory implant could be used to replace a lot of the lost cells in the center of the damaged area. “I think the best strategy is going to involve both drugs and devices,” he says.

Unfortunately, the team found that its method can’t help patients with advanced dementia.

“When looking at a patient with mild memory loss, there’s probably enough residual signal to work with, but not when there’s significant memory loss,” Hampson said.

Constantine Lyketsos, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at John Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore which is trialing a deep brain stimulator implant for Alzheimer’s patients was a little skeptical of the other team’s claims.

“The brain has a lot of redundancy, it can function pretty well if loses one or two parts. But memory involves circuits diffusely dispersed throughout the brain so it’s hard to envision.” However, he added that it was more likely to be successful in helping victims of stroke or localized brain injury as indeed its makers are aiming to do.

The UK’s Alzheimer’s Society is cautiously optimistic.

“Finding ways to combat symptoms caused by changes in the brain is an ongoing battle for researchers. An implant like this one is an interesting avenue to explore,” said Doug Brown, director of research and development.

Hampson says the team’s breakthrough is “like the difference between a cane, to help you walk, and a prosthetic limb — it’s two different approaches.”

It will still take time for many people to accept their findings and their claims, he says, but they don’t expect to have a shortage of volunteers stepping forward to try their implant — the project is partly funded by the U.S. military which is looking for help with battlefield injuries.

There are U.S. soldiers coming back from operations with brain trauma and a neurologist at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is asking “what can you do for my boys?” Hampson says.

“That’s what it’s all about.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/07/tech/brain-memory-implants-humans/index.html?eref=edition

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Intel’s fourth-generation Core processors, codenamed Haswell, are to launch at the Computex show in Taipei in June.

Intel has confirmed that it will be showing off its next-generation Haswell processors at Computex in Taipei, although the company has yet to state outright whether this will be a paper launch or the start of full retail availability.

Intel’s fourth-generation Core architecture, Haswell introduces some significant tweaks over the current-generation Ivy Bridge, which was a mere process node shrink of Sandy Bridge with few innovations of its own. Chief among these is the introduction of transactional memory technology, which significantly boosts the performance of multithreaded code written with the technique in mind, and the Haswell New Instructions, which increase the existing instruction set with wider SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) support and performance-boosted floating point multiple-accumulate functionality.

Other improvements rumoured to appear in Haswell include 10-day always-connected standby runtimes for laptops and claims of models featuring a coherent L4 cache that is shared between the central processing cores and the integrated graphics cores. Coupled with a claimed boost to the performance of the integrated graphics cores itself, Hasell has much to offer over its predecessors.

Widely rumoured to be launching at Computex, it’s little surprise to find that Intel has begin a countdown to the fourth-generation Core family which puts the launch date firmly at the 3rd of June – the day before the Computex 2013 conference opens in Taipei.

While Intel isn’t saying whether its ‘launch’ constitutes retail availability or a mere ‘paper launch’ – the name given to the unveiling of a product in advance of actual mass production and mainstream availability – it certainly suggests that Haswell parts will be readily available by the second half of the year.

Thus far, the company hasn’t confirmed the specifications or prices of the products it intends to unveil, but Chinese-language tech site VR-Zone (translated) claims to have sight of a spec sheet for the full family of fourth-generation desktop Core chips – including details of the low-power variants, which dip as low as 35W for a quad-core 2GHz model with HyperThreading support and 8MB cache.

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(CNN) — Two rights groups launched a stinging critique Wednesday on Russia’s freedom of expression record, citing a heavy clampdown on critics and activists since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency.

The reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch highlight changes to the law that they say have helped authorities stifle dissent.

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“In the year since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency in May 2012, the Russian government has unleashed a crackdown on civil society unprecedented in the country’s post-Soviet history,” Human Rights Watch said in its report.

“The authorities have introduced a series of restrictive laws, harassed, intimidated, and in several cases imprisoned political activists, interfered in the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and sought to cast government critics as clandestine enemies, thereby threatening the viability of Russia’s civil society.”

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At least two new laws have been introduced and 11 amended in the past year, according to Amnesty International, including broad provisions that allow for “arbitrary interference” with the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

As a result, the space for political opposition and other forms of dissent is “rapidly shrinking,” it said.

“These recent legal initiatives have the declared aim of ensuring public order and the protection of the rights of citizens,” it said.

“Their effect has been the opposite: prominent government critics, opposition voices, watchdogs and ordinary individual protesters (on a wide range of issues) have all seen their rights restricted over the course of the last year.”

This is happening even though these rights are explicitly guaranteed by the nation’s constitution and international human rights treaties to which Russia is party, Amnesty points out.

Opinion: Russia’s civil society crackdown continues

Two of the new laws “clearly seek to limit, or even end, independent advocacy and other NGO work,” Human Rights Watch said.

One, the “foreign agents” law, requires any group receiving foreign funding and engaging in “political activities” to register as a “foreign agent,” the report said.

Inspections conducted by authorities to enforce this law “appeared aimed, at minimum, to intimidate civil society activists” and could potentially be used to force some groups to either end certain types of work or close altogether, it said.

Internet content has also been subjected to new legal restrictions, and another law on freedom of assembly imposes limits on public demonstrations and drastic fines on those who violate it, it added.

Russia’s government has not yet responded to the reports.

Kremlin critic in court

Meanwhile, the trial of prominent Kremlin critic and opposition leader Aleksei Navalny resumed in a court in Kirov, a city about 500 miles northeast of Moscow.

Navalny, a popular anti-corruption blogger, is accused of embezzling $510,000 worth of timber when he worked for the governor of the Kirov area. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 1 million rubles ($32,000) if convicted.

Navalny says the charges are revenge for his criticism of senior Russian officials and allegations of corruption by managers of state-run firms, the official RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The case was previously closed by prosecutors in spring 2012 for lack of evidence, the Human Rights Watch report said.

Navalny has been detained several times by Russian authorities over his political protest activities.

In one example, in October of last year he was detained and charged after staging a one-man protest over police torture in front of the headquarters of the Federal Security Service in Moscow, Human Rights Watch said. Permission is not needed to stage a one-man protest.

Navalny told a court that after he finished his protest, a group of journalists followed him to ask questions, “at which point he was detained and charged with organizing an unauthorized rally,” the report said.

Amnesty International’s report also raises concerns about past court cases brought against Navalny.

Putin’s election to a third term as president in May 2012 came less than six months after parliamentary elections sparked the largest protests seen in decades in Russia.

The issue of free speech in Russia was thrust into the international spotlight last year with the trial of three members of the punk band Pussy Riot, a legal action widely condemned by rights groups.

All three women were convicted of hooliganism for performing a song critical of Putin in a Russian Orthodox cathedral, in a brief but provocative protest action. Two are still in prison.

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AMD is betting heavily on its presence in next-generation consoles to bring it back to profitability by the end of the year.

AMD has joined its rival Intel in offering investors news as to its most recent quarterly performance, and while it’s still making a not-inconsiderable loss things could be turning in the company’s favour.

The semiconductor underdog, which is a fraction of the size of rival Intel, hasn’t been having a great time of it over the last few years. Market acceptance of its Bulldozer architecture, which is easily outperformed by equivalent Intel processors, has been slow, and the company has all but lost the enthusiast market. The news is better in discrete graphics, where it continues to jostle Nvidia for market share, and its accelerated processing unit (APU) products – which combine relatively impressive graphics hardware with cheap general-purpose processors to produce bargain-basement hardware – have been making something of an impact at the lower end of the market.

These aren’t having a massive effect on the company’s profitability, however: AMD has been making huge losses for years, shrinking headcount and tightening its belt with moves that included spinning off its foundry business into a separate entity and selling its headquarters and leasing it back to grab some much-needed cash.

The company’s latest figures show the losses continuing: according to the quarterly report issued by the company late last night, it made a net loss of $146 million based on revenue of $1.09 billion. When rival Intel is talking of profits of $2.05 billion on revenue of $12.58 billion, that’s a clear indication of the disparity between the two biggest companies in the x86 processor market – and Intel doesn’t even have a discrete graphics division to help prop up its earnings.

Losses, naturally, are bad, and continued losses doubly so – but there is an indication that things may be turning around for AMD. While its loss of $146 million for the quarter is substantial, it’s considerably lower than it has been in the past – the lowest, in fact, for a year. By contrast, its loss for the last quarter of FY12 hit $473 million for a full-year loss of $1.18 billion. While the slowing PC market and growing trend in tablet computing may be to blame, AMD simply can’t weather those kinds of losses for as long as Intel – which makes the company’s most recent financial figures something it can cautiously celebrate.

Increases in the company’s profit margins – exactly the opposite of the 25 per cent dip experienced by its rival Intel – are a major factor in the company’s lessened losses, as revenue figures show significant dips in its major markets: the Computing Solutions division has been hit by a 38 per cent revenue dip compared to the same period last year, while its Graphics division saw a 12 per cent year-on-year dip.

The real secret of AMD’s improved fiscal performance, however, comes in the form of a bit of creative accounting: the aforementioned sale and leaseback of its headquarters in Texas freed up $164 million in cash, while the company was also able to make $20 million selling previously-reserved inventory. Without those two figures, which it won’t be able to repeat next quarter, AMD would have made a loss of $330 million.

Despite this, AMD is still confident it will be the comeback king: the company has claimed it expects to be cash-flow positive by the second half of the year, with its first real profits to appear by year’s end when its APU products finally hit shop shelves in the Sony PlayStation 4 and, if pre-release leaks are to be believed, Microsoft Xbox 720 consoles.

‘The PC market will remain an important business for AMD for years to come,‘ claimed AMD chief executive Rory Read during the call. ‘With more than 300 million PCs expected to ship annually for the foreseeable future across the variety of form-factor, the PC is far from dead. [However,] a large part of the momentum this year will come from our game console wins. The game console industry is expected to ship more than 40 million game consoles in 2013. That number is expected to grow as game consoles further evolved into broader entertainment devices that serve as home media hubs and local cloud distribution systems. Our graphics win in the Nintendo Wii U set the foundation for this growth, which we have built upon with Sony’s announcement that the PlayStation 4 will feature a semi-custom AMD APU.‘

‘So, in summary, we continue to make good progress in our three-step strategy designed to restructure, accelerate, and transform AMD while returning the company’s operating profitability by the second half of 2013. We have started shipping a powerful set of new products that provide strong opportunities for share growth in the traditional PC market. And our semi-custom and embedded design wins continue to accelerate as we transform AMD for the new cloud era and attack these high growth markets with our differentiated IP. We look forward to continued strong execution in 2013 as we enable our customers to innovate across a diversified set of markets based on our differentiated and tailored technology solutions.‘

Should the PS4 and Xbox 720 struggle as Nintendo’s next-generation Wii U console has, however, AMD is likely to find it difficult to stay afloat. Investors, however, seem confident in the company, with AMD’s share price shooting up almost five per cent in trading following the call – reversing a month-long downward trend.

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The side of the current iPad.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

Apple’s next iPad will be both thinner and lighter than its predecessor, bringing back the company’s old habit of iPad shrinkage.

That’s according to KGI Securities analyst Mingchi Kuo, who in a note to investors last night said to expect a full-size
iPad that’s 15 percent thinner than the fourth-generation device and weighs 25 percent less.

The size reduction is due to a handful of tweaks, Kuo said. That includes a battery that’s 25 percent to 30 percent smaller, and improvements on display panels and A-series chip technology, which now slurp up less juice. Apple also will use the same touch technology found on the
iPad Mini, which is thinner than what it currently uses on its full-size iPads.

“Thinness and lighter are key attributes,” Kuo said in the note. “We think one of the reasons iPad 3 and iPad 4 didn’t sell as well as expected was they are both heavier and thicker than
iPad 2.”

Apple, of course, released both of those models within seven months of one another. The move ticked off third-generation buyers, but likely kept people from holding off on purchasing third-generation units with the company’s obsolete 30-pin connector.

Kuo expects the next-generation iPad to arrive toward the end of the third calendar quarter.

This is just the latest in a series of rumors and murmurs pointing to a slimmer iPad. Apple’s used what’s effectively been the same outside design for the device for the past three versions, something of an abnormality when compared with the iPhone and iPod line. A report out of Japan back in December claimed Apple was working on a slimmer iPad model, though erroneously said it would be due last month. More recently, there have been a handful of third-party cases for next-gen iPads, which appear to take design cues from the iPad Mini by sporting a narrower design.

As for a reason to trust Kuo over myriad other Apple analysts, he’s been spot on about Apple’s plans and timing of its 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro last year, along with iPod and iPad details. Before that, there were his accurate reports of the white iPhone 4 timing, Apple’s discontinuation of the 17-inch MacBook Pro, and revamps of the MacBook Pro line in mid-2011.

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